A Hacker with a Secret

Caught

Before I could react, the hand had dragged me down the hall and away from the bedrooms entirely. The hall soon opened and revealed the lounge and kitchen. The unknown person flipped a light switch and revealed his sun tanned hand. Castor guided me to one of the beat up chairs in the lounge, it was surprisingly comfy considering its worn down look. He sat in a chair across from me, a coffee table covered in cards was the only thing separating us. He broke the silence between us. "Why were you out of your room? It's late." 

I studied his face for the first time and realized just how handsome he truly was. He had dark blue eyes that shone in the ceiling lights. His straight hair had become slightly messy after today. He was clearly strong but not as bulky as Blaze and his muscles were as defined as his jaw. "Um- I was just..." I couldn't think of a lie under his gaze; I was only becoming more flustered.

Castor sighed. "You saw the door, didn't you?" When I nodded, he continued. "Well that's somewhat good I suppose. It only shows itself to crew members."

"What's behind it?" I asked the only question on my mind.

"I'll show you when you need to know, but right now it's not important." I put on my best pouty face and he looked momentarily saddened, but refused to show me. "There's no reason for you to know."

"Could Eddy see it?"

"I don't know." He paused, thinking my question over. "He was officially a part of the crew, but his loyalty lied elsewhere."

Castor started to clean up the haphazardly thrown cards as he changed the subject. "I see you found Valkyrie's gift.

Smiling, I answered him. "Yeah, it's nice to have some clean clothes. It's been a while."

"Even if they don't fit?" He raised an eyebrow, but when I nodded I just shrugged. 

"I didn't have enough money to afford clothes. Whenever I needed them, I just didn't eat for a week."

"Well as good as it is that you now have Val's clothes, we're stopping at minor planet C-98 tomorrow for a meeting, so you can go out  with Val to get something your size."

I nodded as Castor stood and held a hand out to help me up. "Back to your room now, and stay there this time." 

I accepted it, "How would you know if I leave it?"

"I'll hear you, so don't try it. I don't like being woken in the middle of the night."

I thought about how silent I had been and wondered if it was a coincidence that I'd been caught this time or if he truly could just hear that well.

He led me to my room and opened the door for me. "Goodnight, Novalee."

"I prefer just Nova."

"Well then goodnight, Nova." 

"Goodnight." I replied as he smiled at me before shutting the door.

I waited a minute after I heard his door close before peeping my head out into the hall. "Goodnight, Nova." He called while leaning on his door. "Stay in there." He pointed to my room as I slowly retreated into it.

I'll just have to explore it when they are busy. I thought as I curled up in my new bed. A tiny furry creature soon made his way down onto my forehead, using my hair as a pillow as he returned to sleep. Pulling the blankets closer, I patted Bix once before dozing off too.